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M/T Andrea Brøvig To Andrea Brøvig on the "Ships starting with A" page. Owner: "Brøvigtank", Farsund. Built by A/B Götaverken, Gothenburg, Sweden in 1939. Captain: Selmer L. Pedersen. In Admiralty service from 1941 (Royal Fleet Auxiliary).
Compare Arnold Hague's records with these original images from the Norwegian National Archives:
Andrea Brøvig was scheduled for Convoy HX 52 in June-1940, but did not sail. She was also cancelled from HX 53, and does not show up again until Convoy HX 60 towards the end of July, bound for Clyde with a cargo of fuel oil. Other Norwegian ships also took part. At the beginning of Dec. that year she joined Convoy OB 252 (bound for The Persian Gulf). The convoy originated in Liverpool on Nov. 30, dispersed Dec. 4 - see the external link provided within the Voyage Record. The Norwegian Brisk, Elg, Havørn, Malmanger, Profit, Skrim, and Solhavn are also included. In March -1941 she shows up in Convoy SL 70, which left Freetown on March 29 and arrived Liverpool on Apr. 23. Andrea Brøvig, however, was bound for Gibraltar on that occasion, according to her Voyage Record; again, see the external link provided. Later that year we find her in Convoy HX 143, which departed Halifax on Aug. 5-1941 and arrived Liverpool on the 20th. Other Norwegian ships in this convoy were Thorshavn, Belinda, Mosli, Katy, Ravnefjell, Carmelfjell, Salamis, Primero, Benwood and an unnamed tanker, possibly/probably Petter. At the end of that month (Aug. 31-1941) Andrea Brøvig headed back in the other direction with the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 11, bound for Curacao, station 83. She returned to the U.K. in Convoy HX 153, which left Halifax on Oct. 5. Later that month she appears in station 74 of the westbound Convoy ON 30, again with destination Curacao, heading back to the U.K. in Dec. with Convoy HX 163 (departed Halifax on Dec. 3-1941) together with the Norwegian Ringstad, Haakon Hauan, Harpefjell, Høegh Giant, Ørnefjell, Ranja, Pan Aruba, and Thorshøvdi. (Note that more details on the other Norwegian ships mentioned here can be found with the help of the alphabet index at the end of this page). Early the following year, in Jan.-1942, she's listed as bound for Curacao in the westbound North Atlantic convoy ON 56 (left Liverpool on Jan. 12, dispersed on the 16th. This convoy will be added to an individual page in my Convoys section, along with more information - in the meantime, please see the section listing ships in all ON convoys). She returned to the U.K. the following month with Convoy HX 175. In March she joined Convoy OS 22, which originated in Liverpool on March 13-1942. Andrea Brøvig was on a voyage from Oban to Trinidad, sailing in station 86, arriving Trinidad independently on Apr. 1, having detached from the convoy on March 20 (again, ref. link provided in the above table).
Torpedoed, shelled and sunk by U-128 (Heyse) in the very early morning hours of June 23-1942 off Trinidad, when on her way from Port of Spain to Freetown with 14 000 tons of fuel oil, having departed Port of Spain the day before. The first torpedo hit amidships on the starboard side, causing a heavy list. All survived and were able to launch the port boat amidships and 3 boats aft; the starboard midships boat had been blown away in the explosion. A second torpedo struck just as the captain left his ship. The U-boat is said to have fired on the crew in the lifeboats with machine guns, but missed (this according to a Norwegian source, but it's more likely that some of the lifeboats were simply in the firing line when the ship was shelled). As they rowed away powerful explosions were heard and she was engulfed in flames. She sank in less than an hour in 12 10N 59 10W. Part of the crew arrived at Tobago and part at Port of Spain on June 25. (Charles Hocking places the sinking of this ship on June 19, agreeing with the position given above). The maritime hearings took place in New York on Aug. 6-1942 with Captain Pedersen, the 3rd Engineer and Able Seamen J. Rasmussen and E. Olsen appearing. A little over a month after Andrea Brøvig was sunk, her crew (except for the captain) again experienced being torpedoed when they were on board the passenger ship Robert E. Lee. She was on a voyage from Port of Spain to Tampa, Florida, but could not secure a pilot and was directed to New Orleans with the PC-566 as escort. She had 268 passengers (mostly survivors of other sinkings), 130 crew members and 6 Naval Armed Guard. On July 30-1942, she was torpedoed by U-166 (Kuhlmann) in 28 40N 88 42W and sank after 15 minutes. 10 crew members and 15 passengers died. All the Norwegians survived and actively took part in the rescue operations, helping to save many of the people on board. Survivors from the torpedoed Høegh Giant were also among the passengers. U-166 was sunk after the attack by the escorting USS PC-566. According to "A Careless Word, A Needless sinking" by Arthur R. Moore, Robert E. Lee was in Convoy TAW 7 at the time (external link - as will be seen, this convoy is said to have arrived Key West already on July 28, 2 days before Robert E. Lee was sunk). This book says she had a complement of 131, 6 Naval Armed Guard and 270 passengers. The ship was abandoned in 6 lifeboats and 16 rafts. SC-519 and the tug Underwriter also picked up survivors, who were landed at Venice, Louisiana, then transported by bus to New Orleans. According to this posting on my Ship Forum Robert E. Lee had arrived at Antigua 12-07-1942, left Antigua 13-07-1942, arrived St Lucia 13-07-1942. Left St Lucia 14-07-1942, arrived Trinidad 15-07-1942. Left Trinidad 21-07-1942 (this fits with the departure date of Convoy TAW 7), arrived off Tampa 29-07-1942. No pilot was available so proceeded to New Orleans escorted by PC-566. In other words, it looks like she was no longer in the convoy when she was sunk (this message is part of a thread that starts here).
Crew List - No Casualties:
Norwegian, unless otherwise noted
Related external links: PC-566 - On the website The story of U-166 which includes several underwater pictures of this boat. Back to Andrea Brøvig on the "Ships starting with A" page. Other ships by this name: Th. Brøvig later had another tanker named Andrea Brøvig, built 1948 - the Clydebuilt Ships website has a picture and more information on her. She was sold for breaking up in 1974. In Sept.-1967 the 3rd ship by this name was delivered to Th. Brøvig, Farsund, 13 765 gt. Sold to India in 1974 and renamed Jag Manek, broken up around 1992. The company's 4th Andrea Brøvig was delivered in Oct.-1975 (having been launched as B. T. Friendship - owner not known), 17 875 gt. Later names: Panamanian Valetta Trader 1985 (still managed by Th. Brøvig), sold to Cyprus in 1986, renamed Cypros Glory. Broken up around 1992. The 5th Andrea Brøvig had originally been delivered as Honduras to owners in Monrovia in 1979. Before she got the name Andrea Brøvig in 1993, she sailed as Høegh Apapa 1980, Honduras 1981, Euro Texas 1987, Honduras 1988, Merkur Afrika 1988, Honduras 1989, Eal Topaz 1989, Honduras 1990, Eal Topaz 1991, Topaz 1991, and Hari Buhm 1991. Andrea Brøvig was renamed Sinar Jambi in 1999, then Andrea Brøvig again in 2001. Sold that same year and renamed Capitaine Wallis II, then Forum Fiji in 2002, Capitaine Wallis II again in 2003. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Norwegian Maritime Museum, Volume I, and misc. others as named within the above text - ref My sources.
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